


A Messy Life

by Aceofstars16



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-23
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2019-03-08 11:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 439
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13457382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aceofstars16/pseuds/Aceofstars16
Summary: A bit of a headcanon of sorts detailing Steve's life as a kid, why he was friends with Tommy, and how he felt after the fight in season one. Not really anything explicit, just implications of his dad having affairs, hence the PG-13 rating even though it's really nothing at all.





	A Messy Life

**Author's Note:**

> [Tumblr post](http://aceofstars16.tumblr.com/post/169801022833/a-messy-life)

Up and down. Back and forth. Steve’s hand repeated the movements over and over again, trying to rub off the red paint. His arm ached, but that was nothing compared to the swell of emotions in his chest. His world had been turned upside-down in one day. If only he could erase it all, if he could go back and fix it all. But he wasn’t naïve enough to think that anymore.

Life was a mess. It didn’t go how you wanted it to. That was a fact he had learned many years ago as he sat in his room listening to his parents yelling. It was something he had tried to run away from, climbing out the window and racing to Tommy’s house. His friend had always been there when Steve needed to get away. Whether it was the yelling or the moaning he heard through the walls when his mom wasn’t there. Tommy’s house was safe, even if it wasn’t always the cleanest. It was away from mess of a home he lived in, and that was enough. When he grew older, Steve would question Tommy’s decisions, but this was his best friend who had let him spend countless nights at his house, so maybe it wasn’t as bad as he thought. And maybe that’s just the way things were, life was messy and families were broken. Happiness could be found in a night, only to have a quiet emptiness as another girl left. Steve told himself that’s just how it was, and he craved that happiness and found it in different ways he could. But in the back of his mind, he knew he was acting just like his dad – who he swore he would never be like. And when Nancy had come along, he had seen someone special, and different. He had to try harder for her but it felt real, and she made him want to be better. So, he tried.

Some good that did him. Now he was alone. His best friend was gone, and he realized that maybe their friendship wasn’t as strong or real as he had always thought it was. And Nancy? Who knew. Steve wanted to believe her, that Jonathan was just a friend, but that was easier said than done.

Caught up in his thoughts, Steve didn’t realize the sign was almost clean. He sighed. This was such a mess, but maybe, just maybe it wasn’t too late. He could find out the truth, he could make it up to Nancy. Life was messy, but some things made the mess worthwhile, and Nancy was one of those things.


End file.
